Crystal Bowersox's "Long As I Can See The Light" was, as Fienberg agrees, the performance of the year so far -- an artistic and medical triumph. She took the leap from "we like her because she's so different" to "wow, those are pipes attached to an artistic sense sufficient to send her straight to the final three."
I'd give Katelyn second place for her take on Coldplay's "The Scientist," not only because it's been about two years since I first started advocating someone perform it on the show because she did the Aimee Mann cover of it real justice. Was it a little slow and off in the phrasing? Perhaps. But compared to where she was last week, it's such a marked improvement that I fear I may have written her off prematurely. (Also, because I want to see the full shoulder tattoo before her run is over.)
No one sang herself out of the competition last night, though I have my doubts about the continuing viability of Lacey Brown given her take on "Kiss Me" which lacked all the dreamy, fifteen-year-old-girl's wistfulness which the song requires. Looks different, sounds boring. Nor do I believe Didi Benami is long for this competition, given that we've seen her act done better by Brooke White and Megan Joy.
Katie Stevens (DeGarmoBot 2.0) is certainly surging. There's something about "Put Your Records On" which can't help but make the singer seem endearing and comforting, and she aced it.
Others, I can't figure out: Siobhan Magnus -- punk rock girl with a huge belting voice, or the adorable-but-unreliable Haeley Vaughn (oh, wait: that's just Paris Bennett 2.0). And Michelle Delamour looks too much like Keanu's colleague's shape-shifting wife in The Devil's Advocate for me to think of anything else while she's singing -- especially when she's unengagingly gender-bending a bad Creed song.
Who I'd send home this week: Lacey, (Didi or Michelle), Jermaine (to make more room for the Team Todrick resurgence), and still Tim Urban. And, yes, Alex Lambert is my tentative Theory #2 test case.
added because we need to keep tabs on him: Frequent ALOTT5MA Piñata Richard Rushfield may have located his 2010 Crush:
While each season sees an early panic of “this year is a disaster” from excitable critics who can’t sit tight until they get to know some of the kids when they reach the Top 12, this year was looking particularly ominous, with no great leader emerging and those few looming possibilities – Casey James, Aaron Kelley – falling sharply on one (cougar) or another (tween) side of the divide.All that changed tonight when Siobhan Magnus hit her big note. Never did we breathe its pure serene until we heard Siobhan sing out loud and bold. Of all the candidates we’ve seen, only Siobhan could possibly unite the entire Idol Nation. Let’s look at what she brings to the table:
1. She had a mohawk.
2. She makes weird, possibly insane noises to herself with her lips, making her both endearing to the tweens and unthreatening to the cougars. ... [deleted for space]
I could go on, but really what more evidence do we need to declare this season over, a lock for young Magnus? In history, civilizations tend to get the leaders they deserve. And after a year of war and bloodshed, Idol Nation deserves a strong but quirky leader like Siobhan.
Siobhan has a wacky cuteness that will get her pretty far, plus the girl can sing and she seems the most fearless. I still don't know what to think about the Lilly. The panel seems to like her, but I see a poseur where Crystal is authentic.
ReplyDeleteI hate that they ripped Didi a new one and praised Paige to the heavens. I must have heard different performances than they did. Plus, how exactly, did Paige change up the Clarkson song? Sounded near identical to me.
ReplyDeleteKatelyn is growing on me in leaps and bounds.
I also thought the first half of Haeley's song was sung better than Miley herself sings it. Of course, I realize that's damning with faint praise. And that it all went to hell in the second half.
Also, when they were talking to Katie, why was everyone mentally projecting "Taylor Swift" without actually saying it? Don't have the rights?
Katelyn's look was so off last week that I couldn't take her singing seriously, which is awful of me (I know) but this is an artist competition, not a "close your eyes and imagine she's not dressed like it's 1984" competition. Also, because she was part of that extended Beatles block.
ReplyDeleteFar and away the best night of the semifinal rounds so far. I thought all the women aside from Haeley or Lacey were good (I'm grading Didi on a curve because I liked her so much last week). I'll be upset if anyone other than those two goes home, though I have a feeling I'll get disappointed.
ReplyDeleteThis week was Exhibit A for why it's ridiculous the Idol producers insist on having an equal number of males and females in the finals. I think all the women other than Haeley or Lacey could make a case that they belong in the finals. Andrew Garcia and Casey James are the only guys that have made any kind of impression on me, but I'd still rate them behind over half the remaining female contestants.
The look didn't bother me last week because she was trying to be seductive in her singing and I guess in her mind "seductive" equals tube dress and red lipstick.
ReplyDeleteImbalanced seasons have been weird ones to watch -- Fantasia's season only had George Huff (as a wild card), Matt Rogers, the Pencil Boy and John Stevens in the finals; last season had just five women out of 13, and only one in the final five (with Alexis Grace and L'il Rounds flaming out unexpectedly). A season which would have forced in Jesse Langseth ahead of Jorge Nunez might've been more interesting.
ReplyDeleteThis season will likely end up at least somewhat unbalanced pretty quickly, because I think that there will be at least two guys in the top 12 who will pretty clearly be weaker than the other competitors. I don't know which two guys it will be, but I really only think that there are four guys (at most) worthy of being in the top 12, while I think that you could easily make an argument for eight of the girls being in the top 12 based on one or more performances. That's not to say that a guy can't win this year---some of the guys have shown that they have an ability to learn and grow, plus the voting pool has shifted over the years to be more female.
ReplyDeleteAs to the girls: I thought that Crystal was the best by a large margin, followed by Lilly. In the next tier, I'd put Siobhan, Katelyn, and Didi, who all gave flawed but interesting performances with some bright spots and some problems. I would really like for all five of these women to make the finals. If I had to select a sixth at this point, I'd probably go for Paige. I've actually enjoyed both of her performances and do think that she has a good voice.
Of the other four: I'd drop Haeley (and, at this point, I'm a little unhappy with the judges for selecting her this year, rather than giving her really good feedback as to how to improve her vocals and asking her to return next year to try out again) and Lacey (because she just can't sing anything other than Over the Rainbow). Michele's song choice this week was really weird and didn't really work for me and Katie is a robot with a nice voice but who apparently needs to hang out with some younger music for a while (and get more life experience), but of the four, I'd give those two another shot.
She did look like she was channeling Olivia Newton John in the Physical time didn't she....
ReplyDeleteThe judges are really starting to annoy me. Usually, they're just vapid, but this year they're vapid and arrogant -- and indecipherable. They kill Katie for acting too old, and Haeley for acting too young. They demand originality, but complain when someone sings a song that's different. They want originality and freshness, but they lavish praise on Lilly, whose version of "A Change Is Gonna Come," while good, was pretty much a faithful replica of the 40-year-old original. (I thought Lilly was much more unique, and interesting, last week.)
ReplyDeleteFrankly, this is what you get when you asked a bunch of middle-aged middle-of-the-road folks to find music that teenagers will buy. They've got no clue what they're talking about. And has Randy put together a complete sentence yet this season?
shape-shifting wife cracked me up. made me laugh and reminded me how much I like to watch A.P. chew scenery. Now ,however, won't be able to look at her without thinking that. thanks.
ReplyDeleteFor me, Crystal was far and away the best. Which means, of course, that she won't win the whole thing; but if it gets her a nice contract and I can buy her CD, I'm happy with that. I could listen to her sing all day. I actually liked Lilly, but I get the poseur comments too. I don't think there was anything wildly original about her interpretation, but I like her voice. And I actually loved Katelyn. So those are my top 3, with Siobhan a flawed but interesting fourth. I can take or leave the rest, although I do agree that as a group they are far ahead of the guys.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, the Girls are Light Years better than the boys. Chrystal was by far the best last night, and I think she should be a recording artist already, but I thought that Siobhan gave the second best performance. That girl has some real talent. I have to disagree with Adam on Katelyn though, I thought it was a good song choice and a "nice" arrangement, but it was boring and slow and there is something about her I don't like that I cannot quite put my finger on. I'm sure that she will get another chance next week though. Since the world revolves around me, next week she can have a clean slate to try to impress me.
ReplyDeleteHaeley may have a slight resemblance to Paris, but I don't know that you wanna sell Paris' talent short. For at least a few weeks, Paris was rather spectacular in a familiar, nuanced, jazzy sort of way. Her problem was that eternal Teen "Idol" problem of being repeatedly told that she was coming across as too old and therefore being forced into a niche she couldn't fill. From there she got discombobulated and boring before disappearing. I don't think either Haeley or Paige is anywhere near Paris' class as a vocalist.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Katie Stevens as DeGarmo Bot 2.0 (a comparison I'm totally on-board with, obviously) is complimentary to the original DeGarmoBot, who lacked the kinda spunky personality Katie actually seems to possess. I think that Katie is currently in a tier below, but only because of stupid song choices and I think if she just found one breakout performance, she could fulfill all of Rushfield's purpose prose on her behalf. Or else she could just skip along robotically and get the boot at Top 8 or Top 6...
-Daniel
1. Paris Bennett's "Midnight Train to Georgia" in her first semi round was precocious and endearing. Nothing else she did came close -- but in a weak season, that was good enough for 5th.
ReplyDelete2. Hadn't checked in on Rushfield yet this season -- is it at Carly Smithson Needs A TRO level yet?
A few things: (1) Where is Rushfield recapping these days? I haven't had a good burst of hyperbole in DAYS.
ReplyDelete(2) Dan, your recap made me literally laugh out loud. A lot.
(3) I've been pondering the degree to which the judges hold different performers to different standards. I remember seeing that with Melinda Doolittle and some of the other contestants in Season 6, and there were definitely different standards being applied to David Cook vs. David Archuleta in Season 7. If Carly Smithson ever deviated from 100% talent maximization, Simon lost it at her. I think that we've seen that same problem with the comments toward Andrew Garcia and toward Crystal Bowersox in week 1. I understand advising people on how to maximize their talents and increase their chances of winning. But I think that there needs to be more of what you see from the judges on SYTYCD---an acknowledgement that a performance was good, even if maybe there is a song out there that would be a better fit. And, no, I don't think that it's fair to demand that a particular contestant rearrange his/her songs EVERY week while allowing someone else to do relatively straight-up versions without complaint.
And while I was typing up my opus, Adam inserted a Rushfield quote and link. Y'all anticipate my pop culture needs before I even have a chance to mention them.
ReplyDeleteHe does have a type (Irish), that Rushfield.
ReplyDeleteFor true Rushfield pinata bashing, someone more dedicated than I needs to read his memoir.
ReplyDeleteI dearly love that Rushfield did a list of the top 24, in order of elimination, and three of his predicted top ten were out in the first week. After this week, it is entirely plausible for him to be down to five.
ReplyDeleteStill hate Haeley and her lisp.
ReplyDelete